Some words from Blackmagic CEO Grant Petty on the new cameras

[Andrew Reid]

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera

 

Last year we launched the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and although we had sensor supply issues, the cameras are flowing faster all the time and the people receiving them are doing some stunning work. It’s really amazing watching the work people have done appear on various web sites!

 

Of course, the big aim of this camera was to get a true film look. We worked hard on the design to do this and the images are stunning! However another one of our design goals was to make a cinema camera that was an extremely small size. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is very small and much smaller than a normal cinema style camera.

 

What we wanted to do next was see if we could make a cinema camera even smaller!

 

We have done this, and the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is incredibly tiny. It’s a true digital film camera with a Super 16 size 1080HD sensor with 13 stops of dynamic range. The images look virtually identical to our current camera!

 

It features a Micro Four Thirds™ lens mount so you can use low cost lenses, but also Super 16 cine lenses via an adapter. If you use a Super 16 cine lens, combined with the Super 16 sensor size and the 13 stops of dynamic range, it’s just like shooting to Super 16 film! Of course you can rig it up with large lenses so it’s perfect for large jobs too!

 

We have worked incredibly hard to build the smallest camera design we could, while retaining the ability to comfortably use it hand held. It’s an attractive design with built in stereo mic's, LANC, micro HDMI with overlays for monitoring, solid grip handle that holds a removable battery and built in recorder to SD cards. It records lossless CinemaDNG RAW and ProRes 422 (HQ), so the image quality is amazing.

 

I feel that the small design lets this camera be used for all kinds of tasks a normal camera would be too large to handle. My feeling is a small camera can always be bigger, but a big camera can never be smaller. I think its going to be very exciting to see what kind of work is done with this camera. For myself, it’s nice to have a camera I can use personally for shooting my family, which gives a timeless film look.

 

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera will be shipping in July for $995.

 

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/bmpcc/

 

Blackmagic Production Camera 4K

 

The first of the Ultra HD products this year is a new camera!

 

The new Blackmagic Production Camera 4K features a large Super 35 size sensor with a global shutter. This makes it easy to get shallow depth of field shots as well as shots with fast motion and is something people have been asking for.

 

The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is housed in the same chassis as our current Blackmagic Cinema Camera so all the third party accessories that have been developed will fit perfectly. It features an EF compatible lens mount as the sensor in this camera is way too large physically, to fit in a MFT lens mount.

 

This new camera features recording to solid state disks in visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and ProRes 422 (HQ) formats, built in Thunderbolt and 6G-SDI output to allow Ultra HD video out. The sensor features 12 stops of dynamic range, so this camera gives a nice look to the images and is perfect for all types of production work!

 

Blackmagic Production Camera 4K also includes 6G-SDI output for monitoring on Ultra HD displays and includes overlays. However this output can be down converted to regular HD when you want to use a more common and smaller monitor. The 6G-SDI output supports Ultra HD down the single BNC cable so it’s perfect for use with a live production switcher such as the new ATEM Production Studio 4K below!

 

The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K will be available in July for $3,995.

 

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/bmpc4k/

 

Ultra HD, 4K and New 6G-SDI Technology

 

For over a year, we have been working with semi conductor manufacturers to develop 6G-SDI technology. 6G-SDI lets us connect Ultra HD resolution video using a single SDI cable. Ultra HD is 4 times the data rate of regular HD video and looks absolutely stunning. We think Ultra HD 4K is important, as the latest large screen televisions have such large screens that HD video looks soft on them. The dots per inch have become lower as the screen sizes get larger, so the large screen televisions that consumers are buying start to look bad. I think Ultra HD is the perfect solution to solve this issue, but we need a lot of content to fill those screens!

 

We will be providing updates over the coming weeks to increase support for Ultra HD on these models. Please keep a look out for these software updates!

 

[richg101]

I had been hankering for an Ikonoskop, but put a deposit down on the pocket cinema camera as soon as I was told it was on CVP.  #4 on the CVP waiting list!  Whoop!

[mtheory]

I had been hankering for an Ikonoskop, but put a deposit down on the pocket cinema camera as soon as I was told it was on CVP.  #4 on the CVP waiting list!  Whoop!

 

I can't seem to find where my ranking on the waiting list is ( I pre-ordered with a guest account ), where exactly is it displayed?

[iconflyer]

I really hope they can make them available before July :)

[/p/]

Black Magic are an Australian company right? Doing Australia proud lel, but seriously we have some of the worst retail services ever.. I have absolutely no idea where I'd even be able to pre order the pocket camera unless I import.. It would be amazing if it had both PAL and NTSC frame rates (global cam).... Does anyone know if the original BMCC was a global cam?

[Andrew Reid]

They are world cameras yes.

[Andrew Reid]

I can't seem to find where my ranking on the waiting list is ( I pre-ordered with a guest account ), where exactly is it displayed?

 

I think you have to phone or email them for the info

[Andrew Reid]

I had been hankering for an Ikonoskop, but put a deposit down on the pocket cinema camera as soon as I was told it was on CVP.  #4 on the CVP waiting list!  Whoop!

 

Congratulations sir :)

 

I have also pre-ordered the Pocket Camera as well as the 4K beast.

 

Now the dilemma is what to do with my existing M43 BMCC preorder, on which I have a £500 deposit down. I honestly don't need the camera and can't see a shipping date any time soon. Likely it will arrive close to July, by which time the other cameras will make it obsolete. But THEN there is the risk that the new cameras will suffer delays too. As for my existing EF mount BMCC, I need to make a decision whether or not to let that go or to keep hold, because it is now essentially made redundant by all 3!

[soupkitchen]

I had been hankering for an Ikonoskop, but put a deposit down on the pocket cinema camera as soon as I was told it was on CVP.  #4 on the CVP waiting list!  Whoop!

oh this is no Ikonoskop. Hopefully you can get a decent match though.

Also on the 4k one, I seriously don't understand why they have gone for the EF mount over something like the IMS mount on the ikonoskop.

[jgharding]

Congratulations sir :)

 

I have also pre-ordered the Pocket Camera as well as the 4K beast.

 

Now the dilemma is what to do with my existing M43 BMCC preorder, on which I have a £500 deposit down. I honestly don't need the camera and can't see a shipping date any time soon. Likely it will arrive close to July, by which time the other cameras will make it obsolete. But THEN there is the risk that the new cameras will suffer delays too. As for my existing EF mount BMCC, I need to make a decision whether or not to let that go or to keep hold, because it is now essentially made redundant by all 3!

 

This made me laugh, just the image of standing surrounded by Blackmagic cameras and pulling your hair out! WHAT DO I DO?!?!

 

Actually I'm the same. I'm on preorder for 4K, but quite tempted to switch the the little S16 cos it's so tiny and a LOT cheaper... but then I'd need more lenses for the smaller sensor... but with the BMD I need external battery and SSDs aRgH!

[jgharding]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-03vYYAjA

[mtheory]

This made me laugh, just the image of standing surrounded by Blackmagic cameras and pulling your hair out! WHAT DO I DO?!?!

 

Actually I'm the same. I'm on preorder for 4K, but quite tempted to switch the the little S16 cos it's so tiny and a LOT cheaper... but then I'd need more lenses for the smaller sensor... but with the BMD I need external battery and SSDs aRgH!

 

What's your ranking on the pre-order list at CVP? I pre-ordered shortly after you did, but can't check because I used a guest account.

[Julian]

I emailed CVP asking for my 'number in line'

 

Got this reply:

 

hope you are well and thank you again for your valued Pre-Order. 
At the moment we're not sure when either of the new cameras are scheduled to ship (or will actually ship) but based on our experience with the existing BMCC 2.5K model we expect long delays. As a result of this we will not be offering customer queue positions on these items.
 
Please rest assured that we have already placed a substantial pre-order with Blackmagic Design and orders will be fulfilled strictly in order of placement. 
Your pre-order deposit will secure your position in our fulfilment queue and is fully refundable at any stage in the event that you wish to cancel your order.
 
Thank you very much again - We appreciate your valued business.

Kindest regards
Dave Morris | Product Manager

[jgharding]

What's your ranking on the pre-order list at CVP? I pre-ordered shortly after you did, but can't check because I used a guest account.

I used a guest too I think, if you give them a ring they'll let you know though, I'm just between shooting auditions as I type so I won't be able to do it for a while today...

 

EDIT: I just read above, looks like they're deflecting flak, I don't blame them!

[jgharding]

Basically, make sure that the funds are available in the account used to pre-order from the date of the delivery (July) but realistically it could be up to a year before it arrives.

 

Either way, I just saw it does 1080p as well, which is awesome, as many (most) things don't need 4K capture. This thing is gonna be awesome!

[MOONGOAT]

Black Magic are an Australian company right? Doing Australia proud lel, but seriously we have some of the worst retail services ever.. I have absolutely no idea where I'd even be able to pre order the pocket camera unless I import.. It would be amazing if it had both PAL and NTSC frame rates (global cam).... Does anyone know if the original BMCC was a global cam?

 

Yeah the BMCC shoots 25p.

 

As for living in Australia, should be used to getting fucked over by now. Even by Australian companies. I'll be importing a Pocket I think. It uses standard Nikon batteries anyway so you can get a charger anywhere.

[Bruno]

Now the dilemma is what to do with my existing M43 BMCC preorder, on which I have a £500 deposit down. I honestly don't need the camera and can't see a shipping date any time soon. Likely it will arrive close to July, by which time the other cameras will make it obsolete. But THEN there is the risk that the new cameras will suffer delays too. As for my existing EF mount BMCC, I need to make a decision whether or not to let that go or to keep hold, because it is now essentially made redundant by all 3!

 

Seriously, cancel the MFT preorder now and sell the EF BMCC as soon as you receive the 4k camera.

 

BMD should have an upgrade path for everyone who's waiting for a BMCC, and people who ordered this should be pressing them in that direction, you should try to change your BMCC MFT pre order into a 4k one.

 

The original BMCC kind of became instantly obsolete with the announcement of these cameras. The EF mount was always the wrong one for that sensor size, the uncompressed raw format was always the wrong one for independent shooters and the MFT mount is passive when even the Pocket camera is now offering an active mount. Either they come up with a quick makeover for the BMCC to solve these issues and bring them up to par with the new offerings or they might as well discontinue it.

 

At the same time, I hope they're also improving the software/firmware features that were lacking.